A large and growing software resuse library is the heart of the SolarSoft system. Routines in this library are instrument and mission independent, and available to all users for analysis and application development. This library represents an evolutionary system, dating back to Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) analysis at the Solar Data Analysis Center (SDAC) at Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSFC). It has since evolved through the Yohkoh and SoHO missions, and now includes contributions from TRACE, HESSI, and many other orbital and ground based solar observatory PI groups.
Principle Investigator (PI) teams from each participating instrument define and control the master libraries and data bases for the individual instruments. These instrument and mission level master sites are widely distributed, and currently include institutes in Japan, England, France, Switzerland, and many locations within the United States.
SolarSoft utilities running on the SSW master site at GSFC mirror from the the various instrument master sites into the SSW master for centralized integration and distribution. Due to the very large number of contributing sites and routines, background utilities (written in SSW) monitor incoming additions and flag potential conflicts within the integrated system. Additional SSW utilities monitor modifications and sizes of software libraries and data bases to generate system files required by the installation and upgrade utilities.
In close coordination with scientists and programmers from the SDAC and various SoHO Co-I groups, the original design, implementation, and administration of SolarSoft was supported under NASA contracts to LMSAL for Yohkoh/SXT, SoHO/EIT and TRACE (NAS8-40108, NAS5-32966, and NAS5-38099). The use of MO&DA funding during the development and implentation phases of SSW evolution was clearly justified since each of those data analysis systems benefited from identification and use of common software and techniques. Moreover, the ability to have a single, common analysis environment was crucial for simplified and meaningful coordinated analysis. Likewise, integration of addtional ancillary solar data and software support provides contextual data for each of those instruments. SolarSoft also provides a single point system for remote installations and automated upgrades of all participating missions and instruments with an associated savings in manpower for all PI teams.
One often cited problem with the current SSW system is that the software libraries are so extensive that it often difficult for a PI team to know what capabilities exist and which subset of SSW is most appropriate for a given instrument application. We propose to expand the current level of PI integration and documentation level support to include more detailed guidance in the applications of SolarSoft. It is quite common that many man-weeks of effort are wasted to reinvent an existing SSW capability or in struggling to implement something using the wrong utility. Not only does this waste PI group time which is better spent on detailed instrument calibration and software, but it short circuits the evolution of more powerful SSW capabilities. We can often head off these wasted efforts by a simple phone, email, or documentation exchange, if we know about the desired application.
With the help of several groups, including Mullard Space Sciences Laboratory (MSSL), the HESSI PI team, and several SSW contributors at the SDAC, we have made significant advances over the past year to document a subset of fundamental SSW capabilities. In addition to expanding and organizing the SSW documentation to increase its' utility, we propose to compile and post SSW FAQs and implement some method of threaded user exchange. In addition to responses from the SSW administrators, we would invite and encourage all participating PI groups and SSW users to contribute solutions and tips in addition to questions and suggestions.
During the pre and post HESSI launch phases, we expect increased activity and demands on the SolarSoft system, both from the HESSI Co-I teams and SSW users interested in HESSI analysis. We will coordinate with the SDAC and HESSI group in areas of HESSI quicklook catalog and event summaries which will be made available to remote sites from the SDAC using the automated SolarSoft data base distribution (SSWDB) system.
We have had preliminary discussions with the HESSI team about providing SSW data sets and WWW summaries which will assist in visualization of the HESSI image context. For example, we will provide automated composites of HESSI flare images embeded in full disk contextual SSW images, including EIT, SXT (and eventually SXI) for each flare in the HESSI event catalog. We will provide the HESSI team guidance on use of SSW WWW movie making capabilities as requested. We will provide a utility for automated cross reference between HESSI and TRACE to identify, extract and process TRACE contextual images for each HESSI event, an admittedly trivial task using existing SSW capabilities.
Freeland, S.L., and Handy, B.N., 1998, "Data Analysis with the SolarSoft System ", Solar Physics, 182, 497. Freeland, S.L. and Bentley, R.D., 2000, "SolarSoft", Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Inst of Physics Publishing. Freeland, S., http://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/ SolarSoft description and links to SSW installation, analysis concepts, standards, and other related documents (World Wide Web) Svestka, Z., Uchida, Y., ed. 1991, The Yohkoh (Solar-A) Mission, (Dordrecht:Kluwer) Fleck, B., Domingo, V., Poland, A., ed. 1995, The SOHO Mission, (Dordrecht:Kluwer) Zarro, D.M., 2000, "Object-Based Methods for Analyzing Solar Images" http://orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/idl/maps.html (World Wide Web)